Last weekend, I attended the Eastern Shore Writers Association annual conference at Chesapeake College on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. It was a good one-day event. While I was there, I drove down to the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge and saw my first bald eagle. Actually, I saw two, so it was definitely worth the drive down to the flooded, swampy lowlands of Eastern Shore. Lowlands may be an understatement. I’d forgotten how flat and rural a lot of this huge peninsula (ignoring the C&D Canal, which makes it an island) is. Heading north toward Delaware, I drove 40 miles without seeing a store or gas station. Just farms and fields and stands of young trees. Nice.